University’s residential school apology raises eyebrows

The University of Manitoba will on Thursday apologize for what it says is its role in the Indian residential schools system, a “ground-breaking” move not only for its novelty, but also for its impetus: The university itself was not a perpetrator of the tragedy, and its mea culpa stems from having educated the clergy, teachers, and politicians who perpetuated the system.

On the eve of the school president’s address before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Halifax, public relations experts questioned whether the apology would be viewed as authentic.

“This is kind of odd — it’s really quite curious,” said Michael Davis, a partner at Reputations, a Vancouver-based reputation management consulting firm. “Do they then apologize for all the things they did or didn’t do when it comes to training people back in the day? … What about racism, sexism, or homophobia? Do they apologize for not leading on all of those other issues? Because that’s really what they seem to be talking about here.”

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The century-long assimilation policy took 150,000 aboriginal children from their parents, forcing them to live in schools where their culture was banned and where many endured physical and sexual abuse. The school has also said it will apologize for the university’s failure to challenge the system.

“I think it’s unnecessary,” said Wayne Helgason, vice-president of the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg. “Frankly, I don’t know the merit of an apology. What we’re looking for is real change and true benefit for tomorrow’s generation. If, after this, we just continue on in our merry way, then it may even be less than useful.”

Mr. Davis said the university’s connection to the residential school system “seems very tenuous,” and said the school runs the risk of appearing to “use what was a very serious and tragic history for some sort of gain.” Mr. Helgason, who is also president of the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development, said apologies like these are “not always accepted in the way the apologizer desires.”

However, if the apology is well-received by the aboriginal community, by the media and on online social networking sites such as Twitter, the university could make public-relations headway, Mr. Davis said. Other universities might then follow suit, he said.

The university’s president, David Barnard, told the Winnipeg Free Press the idea came from within the faculty of social work, and that he discussed the proposed apology with deans, the board of governors, the senate, and Manitoba aboriginal leaders.

Anthony Johnston, a Cree who lives on Saskatchewan’s Mistawasis Reserve and whose parents and siblings attended residential schools in Manitoba, said he welcomes the apology.

“It’s good that non-aboriginal institutions are seeing their connection to this past wrongdoing,” said Mr. Johnston, a 55-year-old band employee who studied history at the University of Manitoba. “As a place of higher learning, perhaps the school should have educated teachers to be more understanding of the aboriginal culture.”

Dan Tisch, president of Toronto-based Argyle Communications, said apologies are typically a form of defence, but said they can also be made proactively in a bid to strengthen a reputation.

“What they seem to be doing is making a statement about their values — about what they stand for — and they might also be trying to enhance their relevance to the aboriginal community,” he said. “You don’t see (apologies for indirect roles) like this very often. It’s certainly ground-breaking in that regard.”

Mr. Tisch said the university seems to be suggesting a “broader sense of societal responsibility for what happened — that some may have been involved in acts of commission, but there were acts of omission, too.”

This is believed to be the first time a Canadian university has issued a mea culpa for the residential school system, and the Winnipeg university will join churches and the federal government in issuing an apology. In June 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made history when he asked Canada’s aboriginals to forgive Ottawa for “failing them so profoundly.”

Charles Menzies, a member of the Kitkatla nation who teaches anthropology at the University of British Columbia, said it is the first time he has ever heard of a university apologizing for training people who then went on to harm a person or a community. Although he welcomes the university’s apology as a “recognition that it was somehow implicated” in the residential schools system, he hopes the move has teeth.

“I would hope the apology extends beyond words, and that there’s some sort of manifestation on the ground that suggests there’s really something to this,” he said.

The University of Manitoba has graduated nearly 1,000 self-declared aboriginals since 2001, and has close to 140 researchers studying issues related to aboriginal peoples and culture. It has one of only two native studies doctoral programs in the country, and two of the university’s Canada Research Chair positions — governance and oral culture — are devoted to indigenous issues.